CONNOLLY HOOPS: Cougars roll into Div. 4 South semifinals

Thursday

FALL RIVER – Bishop Connolly was adequate for a half. Then the Cougars upgraded their offense.

Connolly began the formal defense of its Division 4 state boys’ basketball title by belting Nantucket 62-36 in a South Sectional quarterfinal game on Thursday night at Connolly’s Lafrance Gymnasium and Shea Court.

Heavy favorites, the top-seeded Cougars (20-3) led 28-19 at halftime then cranked up their fast break in outscoring the ninth-seeded Whalers 21-5 in the third quarter. They led 58-25 with 5:32 to go in the game.

Dylan Holland scored 20 points, John Goncalo 13, Brian Quinn 11, and Konrad Bradbury 10 for the Cougars, who will play fifth-seeded Pope John Paul II or fourth-seeded South Shore Christian in the semifinals on a day and site to be announced.

Pope JP II and South Shore Christian play today (Friday).

Nantucket finished its season 13-8.

“When you have a team that we were obviously more athletic than and we had a distinct size advantage over, to have 29 points, I thought there were more opportunities,” said Connolly coach Matt Coute, who turned 30 on Thursday. “The 18 points I was okay with. Holding them to 18 points I’m happy with. But 29, I’m, like, not good enough. I thought the kids responded a lot better in the second half. Much happier with the shot opportunities. I thought we looked for each other a lot better in the second half.”

Connolly’s defense, solid throughout, forced six Nantucket turnovers in the third quarter, and that helped fuel the running game which produced four fast-break baskets, three of those by Holland. Nantucket shot 2-for-18 from the floor in the third quarter.

“That third quarter was make or break time,” Coute said. “It was either you’re going to give a team life – and it could have gotten a little hairy – or you could have broken their spirit, and we broke their spirit in the third quarter.”

“The second half, definitely satisfactory,” Goncalo said. “The first half, we could have come out a lot harder. But we executed in the second half and got it done. Nearly a 30-point win. So if we come out every day like this, take it one game at a time, prepare, make sure we’re intense, we’re going to be all right.”

Nantucket’s best quarter was the first. After falling behind 10-3, they battled back within 12-10 on the second of two 3-pointers by senior guard William Ferreira in a span of 42 seconds.

Ferreira had 10 points at the half and finished with 16.

But Connolly allowed very few easy baskets and the Whalers mounted nothing resembling a significant run of points until putting together six straight points after Connolly had gone up 60-27.

Nantucket scored six points in the second quarter and the five in the third.

Bradbury sat the final 5:40 of the first half after collecting his second personal foul. He started the second half and his backline rebounding and shot blocking helped Connolly pull away.

“Bradbury’s a huge factor,” Goncalo said. “To have a center that big, especially against the centers he plays against, he’s just way bigger. You get him the ball in the post and he’s always going to get it up in the air and he’s going to grab tons of rebounds.”